This is a story I am currently working on. For now...here is a preview piece (that is also the beginning). Enjoy!

DARTHO

The night was quite chilly. Tabitha did not notice, even though she was in beggar's rags. She was too frightened to take notice of the cold. She glanced behind her in fear. The stories she heard were true.
Suddenly, Tabitha bumped into a man in a black overcoat with a black top hat and wearing dark grey trousers.
She did not observe his clothing at the time, as she backed away, or tried to. The man had a hold of her shoulders.
"I say, steady on there, Miss!" stated the gentleman, but Tabitha hardly heard him.
She kicked the man in the shins, making him let go of her. Tabitha heard shouting behind her but she kept running. Ducking into a side-alley, Tabitha stopped as she reached a dead end. A shadow loomed over the nine-year-old girl. Turning around, gasping in short but heavy breaths, Tabitha fainted from fright, believing her persuer had caught up with her at last.

Tabitha said nothing but her mind was racing by what the man had just told her. She was not of this world? That did not make any sense. But Tabitha had felt something was amiss, like how she could not remember her past before she was found by The Illustrator. She had no knowledge of her parents or of her life before she was an orphan of the streets. Tabitha felt her hand was hurting and glanced down to see she was gripping her moon pendant. Glancing up at the well-dressed gentlemen, Tabitha noticed he too was staring at the lead ornament around her neck. Releasing her grip on the ornate trinket, Tabitha seemed to snap to her senses at last.
“What do you mean?” she asked rather timidly yet with a slight undertone of brashness that sustained to disbelief.
“I mean exactly what I said,” responded the well-dressed gentleman, his eyes moving from Tabitha’s necklace to her eyes. “You are not of this world, Tabitha. Ergo, you do not belong here. I’m sorry to have to tell you like this but time is not on our side. You were born on another dimensional planet called Lighnia. I have not much time to explain all but this should help...” muttered the man as he deftly took off one of his white gloves and placed his fingers on Tabitha’s forehead.
“What are you...?” started Tabitha but stopped as the man placed his fingers to her head.

A sudden calmness came over her body. Tabitha seemed to drift off, as if in a sleep-like state. But her mind was as awake as ever, a rush of images appearing in her mind’s eyes. First was the image of her earliest memory, the golden glow of the sun on her infant face as her father held her in his arms. Then suddenly as the sunrise faded, darkness seemed to cloud over the window, a sea of blackness oozing as the infant Tabitha cried whilst her father held her away as the windows shattered.
The scene faded, washed away like a bad dream. As Tabitha grew conscious of herself, the crude iron moon pendant seemed to radiate warmth. Tabitha’s eyes brightly shone a silver Haze of light sweeping radiance. Suddenly, the light faded as the man took his fingers off her forehead.
Tabitha’s eyes seemed to adjust, a feeling of dread sweeping across every fibre of her being.
“I...do not belong here,” she half-whispered in a soft but audible tone.
As she said this, Tabitha grasped her now cool moon pendant that was around her neck. She felt more at ease, but the urge to run seemed to grip her more then she dared to admit to a stranger, let alone herself.
Tabitha sensed herself almost at peace. Her past was now clear. It was her future that was uncertain. But despite it all, with the grips of her true self now aglow with brightness within her mind’s eyes, Tabitha felt sorrow for her fallen friends of this planet.

She would have broken into tears if not for her hard resolve. But the nagging guilt of what she brought to plague this world was enough to make her shudder with shivers to the centre of her bones. Despite the warmth of the bed, Tabitha felt cold, the reality hitting her like a flash of lightning. No, not lightning...Lighnia.
The very word seemed to flash her back once again to that once happy place in her very early childhood.

The fields of flowers shone brightly in the sun. Tabitha felt safe here. That was until the shadows of blackness cascaded over her field of sunlight. The planet Lighnia engulfed by an invisible force of darkness that swept over the entire planet with it’s moonlit radiance. Running, Tabitha hurried to the safety of her glass domed house. But despite the reflective barrier of light that held the shadows at bay, it seemed all but pointless as globs of shadow hit the surface of Lighnia, decaying the florescent flowers until they shrivelled up and died. Tabitha was safe, for now. She ran to her father, hugging him tightly, his broad arms reaching down to pick her up. Hurriedly unchaining his moon pendant that hung around his neck, her father strapped it around her neck before depositing her within a glowing orb of light that shone as brightly as possible.

With a flick of a switch, Tabitha saw a glass tube encircle the orb she was deposited within and before she could cry out she suddenly found herself and the orb thrust from her home. The next thing she knew was blackness. At first she was afraid but the darkness soon faded and Tabitha found herself in a strange world full of smoke and grime. Little did she know she had been followed by a dark shadow, which had sensed her presence as she had crossed the Void to this new unfamiliar world. She found out she knew nothing of her past except she was apparently an orphan girl and was found by a man known as The Illustrator, her first friend in this strange place known as London.

Chapter 11: The Dark Shadow...

Ben felt the black brick wall that had just spoken to him. Did it really speak? Or was he just going crazy already in this terrible place? As his fingers touched the hard surface Ben felt a shiver go up his spine. There was still a low vibration from the wall. Whatever it was, Ben knew he didn’t like it. Taking his hand away from the wall, Ben gave a quick backward glance at the whipping boy that was in charge of them. The teenage youth was still in his chair but his attention was drawn away from Ben, as the short orphan boy was of no interest to him.

The Urban Rivals team is made by lovers of all kind of Collectibles Cards Games and Trading Cards Games like: Magic the Gathering, Dominion, Vampire, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, Wakfu TCG, Assassin Creed Recollection, Shadow Era, Kard Kombat and Might & Magic Duel of Champions.